| Eh, public companies the dynamics are different - the CEO rarely has the shareholders by the balls, it’s usually the other way around. Private Equity or private corps? Always been this way, albeit they’re usually a lot more careful about PR and CYA. Howard Hughes did things like Musk though. It’s part of his brand. Anyone doing business with him that didn’t expect some kind of shenanigans if things changed was being willfully ignorant. If he was poor and did things this way, he wouldn’t have leverage and it wouldn’t work. Same if he didn’t have the shareholders by the balls. What works is what matters eh? Or as they say, he’s not crazy - he’s eccentric. When/if he ends up poor, we can call him crazy again. Long term, Karma/reputation wise, I would hope you are correct. It is often how it has worked in the US. If you were in Russia in the 90’s and assumed that is how it worked going forward, you’d be in pretty bad shape though eh? Hopefully you’d only end up broke/bankrupt and not in a Gulag or thrown out a window. At the point someone is writing commercial leases, the kid gloves have been off a long time ago, and it’s hard for anyone to shed any tears for the outcomes. |